Dedicated to Constantin Sigov and Valentin Silvestrov

I have long been haunted by the words post hoc exsilium ("after this exile") found in the hymn Salve Regina. For many years I toyed with the idea of using them as the title for a musical work, but without finding a suitable opportunity for doing so, until I was recently asked at short notice to play a piano recital for a group of Ukrainians visiting the Taizé Community, including the philosopher Constantin Sigov, director of the publishers Duh i Litera in Kyiv and a close friend of the composer Valentin Silvestrov. Given the fact that several million people have fled Ukraine, including Silvestrov himself, since the invasion of February 24,2022, and with three Ukrainian neighbours now living next door to us in the small French town of Cluny, the timing seemed right to compose this piano piece, thinking of exiles not only from this war but of so many other conflicts past and present. The words of the Salve Regina however give pause for broader reflection given their thought-provoking implication that not only physical refugees but all of us are in some sense "exiled" spiritually in this vale of tears (in hac lacrimarum valle) from our true home.

In an interview given in March 2022 for Deutsche Welle, Valentin Silvestrov asserted that one of the dangers of our current time is that of an increasing "monumentalism" in contemporary culture, particularly exacerbated by mass media, necessitating an artistic reaction away from the grandiose and pompous in the direction of silence and smallness. Given the forceful and dramatic elements of … post hoc exsilium, it might appear that I have only partially followed his advice. I would however like to think that this is principally a question of different and hopefully complementary perspectives. Ukraine’s current need for music of consolation, hope and peace is self-evident, but it could be argued that from a Western European standpoint, the shock and horror of war on this continent have not yet been fully assimilated psychologically, hence the pertinence of a note of urgency that acknowledges not only the existence of exiles but also of the brutality that brought about their sudden departure from their homes. Nonetheless, I hope that I have in some way responded to Silvestrov's call in the opening and final pages of the score and remained true to his conviction (central to all minimalism) that it is only in small things that an artistic truth can be found on which to construct anything larger. It is the Gregorian melody of the Salve Regina (to which the words nobis post hoc exsilium ostende are sung) which begins the piece, reappearing at the end below what might be termed a "blackbird singing in the dead of night", to quote the famous line sung by Paul McCartney in 1968 and inspired by the American Civil Rights movement of the time - a bird whose wings are admittedly broken, but which is only waiting for its moment of freedom to arise.

The first performance of … post hoc exsilium was given in Salle Wanagi Tacanku in Taizé on August 17, 2022 in a concert introduced by Constantin Sigov.

Peter Bannister, Cluny, August 2022